Mirrored Facade
by Azrael-Doll
Summary: 2nd in 'Appearances' series. What happens when circumstances push Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger to work together? Secrets are revealed, minds rewritten and lives retold. 6th year. Not HBP compatible. Whump. HG/DM. Pureblood!Hermione & Draco DOESN'T know. HIATUS whilst uploading prequel!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: To the readers of TLSOS, I will be continuing it, but I've been very busy with Uni deadlines and then this decided it wouldn't take no for an answer. I'm sorry for the delay and it is still my main fic, though I am considering redoing it... But that's another matter entirely. **

**Anways, enjoy. Please note that not everything that happened in the early books has happened in this one, if something is different I'll mention it, though it probably, maybe, won't be anything too different... Maybe. Yes, I have considered writing this from book one, but the story really starts here, I can't really picture it happening elsewhere... Enough rambling; enjoy. ^.^ **

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Chapter One

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Draco absently stared out the window of Malfoy Manor, the cold typically English weather staring back at him as the skies poured. He stood as still as a statue, waiting, holding his breath. There, it was time; the slam of a door, the scurrying of the house-elves desperate to get out of the way, the soft creaking of the old floor as the footsteps stopped outside the door, the quiet sound of the door opening, the muttered curse that left him reeling on the floor in agony as the heaven's cried.

"You worthless stupid son!" Lucius screeched, his bloodshot eyes staring unseeingly at his son's bleeding and broken body lying on the floor in front of him, the storm outside had grown in ferocity, the lighting flash staggered through the room. As Draco reeled from the pain, his spasms wracking through his body, his bones splintering and repairing themselves; _'Is this what it's like to go mad?'_, he wondering to himself. But then, the pain seemed dimmer than it usually was, his father had never compared to Bellatrix's beatings, but there was a sweeter sorrow to them, only now it wasn't there, all Draco felt was hollow. The lightning illuminated his molten silver eyes, they were still staring absently, unable to focus on anything; lost. Lucius lurched out of the room, stumbling on unsteady legs as the high carried him away from his son, he laughed manically in the darkness as he walked down the long hallway and crashed through the door to his study. Not noticing the person watching from the shadows, waiting until the way was clear.

Narcissa ran into the seating room, her heart in her throat as she saw her son sprawled on the floor in front of her. "NO!" She cried in a whisper as she knelt next to him, not caring that her dress was soaking up the blood. She muttered spell after spell as the house-elves gathered around her, silently helping their mistress. "Draco. Draco, wake up for me please." She begged as her eyes searched his face for signs of life. Ever so slowly his eyelids fluttered and he groaned. "Quickly, take him to his bed and no matter what happens you are not allowed to let anyone into his rooms who would do him harm." Narcissa ordered her house-elves, before resolutely standing and following her husband.

"Lucius." She stated as she walked into the study without knocking, it was large and lavishly decorated to show the Malfoy wealth but not boorishly, as it still maintained an elegant air to it, one she despised at the moment. It was a long room with a large table and chairs at one end and her husband's desk at the other, in between them and opposite the door was a grand fireplace. She stared at her husband, he'd changed in the years since Voldemort's defeat and revival, and he'd managed to escape conviction after the fateful events at the ministry but was unable to really leave his house, therefore making himself of little use to his master.

"Ah, Narcissa, my dear." Lucius said looking up from his paperwork. The firelight flickering shadows around the room as the rain could still be heard outside. "Was there something you wanted?"

"There are many things I want," She said quietly unmoving, "Though, I only when I get them, I seem to find them somewhat lacking." Her cold eyes raked over his appearance, he looked shrunken and pathetic, put on his knees by a master once defeated by a one year old boy.

Lucius stiffened ever so slightly, to anyone but her it would have gone unnoticed, Malfoy's were a canny bunch, it was the micro-expressions and movements you had to watch, else you could find yourself flat on your back in a dungeon. "The feeling is somewhat mutual." He said echoing her words.

Treading carefully Narcissa started to talk, "You would think that after condemning yourself to this life, you wouldn't condemn your son, who is still innocent at the current time."

"You would think, after all these years, you had learnt your place." He replied slowly before leaning back in his chair, emphasising his arrogance.

There was a subtle change to the air in the room, tension flowing and moving like the changes of a tide. "You would do well to remember who I am."

"You're a sister to a Death-Eater and Blood-Traitor alike and mother of my coward son."

"Is he a coward because he will not follow in your footsteps?"

"Oh don't worry my dear, he will." And with that spells lit up the place, neither getting perchance on the other until the last moment, when Narcissa saw her free will flash before her eyes. What was left, for all intensive purposes, was a puppet dressed in her skin. "Now, you will do what I say my dear." Her husband said ever so gently reaching out and stroking her perfect cheek as an angry witch screamed; locked inside her own head.

Draco started awake; he'd heard a commotion coming from downstairs. Sitting up slowly he looked his bedroom; the bed was in the centre of the room against the outer wall and on his right was his seating area and fireplace, to his left where the doors to his bathroom and walk-in closet, he looked down at the bottom of his bed to find two house-elves staring at him; his and his mother's.

"Mistress bade me to take care of you and not let any who'd harm you inside, you'll be safe here for now." Ivy whispered.

"What of my mother?" Draco asked through a scratchy throat, nodding thanks at Eric who'd passed him a glass of water. He'd had Eric since he was 10, it was tradition in most pureblood families that a year or two before going to school they would have the gift of their own house-elf. Elves are fascinating creatures, they had unswerving loyalty to their master or mistress and they are exclusive, so only the one who owned they could properly command them, those who'd been imperioused and even the parents of the child couldn't wholly do so, it signified the beginning of independence. This is partly why house-elves were so undeniably important, even though most people never gave them a second thought.

Ivy frowned, her large eyes unusually sad, "Your mother and father fought, she has been imperioused."

"NO!" Draco yelled, throwing the coverts away and trying to get up.

"You must not, master Draco! You will be injured and your mother would not want that!" They screamed at him, their words running over each others.

Grumbling under his breath, Draco stopped moving before slowly getting out of bed and padded over to his chairs and looked at the wall of bookcases in front of him, "You're right," He breathed in deeply, ignoring the twinges of pain that covered his body, "Eric, can you get me all the books we have to do with the imperious curse."

"Right away, sir." He exclaimed and disappeared in a crack.

"Sir, Narcissa named you as my master, should anything happen to her, though on the surface, I must appear to follow her orders, you are my master, for the time-being." Ivy revealed before curtsying.

"I didn't know." Draco whispered enamoured that his mother put that much trust in him, before turning back to regard his books.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yes, I have the first couple of chapters out of the way, so I'm going to post them.**

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Chapter 2

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Hermione stared vacantly at the empty room - her room. With everything that had happened last year at the department of mysteries, she'd moved up her time-table, when the first inklings of war broke out she'd come up with a plan and it wouldn't be long now until there was a fully fledged battle happening, so she'd decided to send her parents away. Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes as she thought back to the other day.

Hermione stared wide-eyed at her parents, begging them to understand, Professor McGonagall was stood behind her, a comforting hand on her shoulder as they explained the situation to her parents.

"So, you want to remove our memories?" He mother said sniffing.

"No, not remove, just make you forget, for a while, they'll still be there you just won't be able to access them, so you'll have no knowledge that they exist." Hermione said, her breath catching ever so slightly, "That I exist."

"But, what if something happens to you?" Her father asked.

"That is up to you, Mr. Granger, you can choose here and now whether you'd like this to be reversed on your daughter's death."

"No!"

"No?" Hermione said fearfully.

"No, I won't accept this; I don't want to forget my daughter at all!"

"Honey, I don't want this myself, but it's for the best." His wife whispered, gently placing her hand on his arm. "Will we forget anything else?"

"Only about the wizarding world, you'll also choose to move somewhere else and be given different names, to protect you."

"But, Hermione what about you?"

"I will go back to Hogwarts and then help out where I can."

"Can we not help?"

"No, I am sorry to say this but you can't." Professor McGonagall said.

"What if something happens to us?" He asked very quietly.

"You memories will be restored if you are near death or you daughter dies, also Hermione can remove the charm at any time, and the feeling of removal will feel very different for the different circumstances. I cannot say how as it is subjective, only that you will know whether it was a voluntary removal or a - a fatal one." McGonagall answered quietly.

"We don't have a choice, do we? Not really, any other wouldn't make sense, would it?" Mrs. Granger said quietly.

"I don't want to lose my daughter again."Hermione's father said in gruff acceptance, "But I will do this, if it is what she wishes." He looked searching at his only daughter's face, it was weary and sad and he saw in it just how hard all of this was for her. "Very well." He said nodding, and the next thing he knew he was sitting having a cup of tea with his wife as they discussed their new job transfers to New Zealand. Neither of them noticing a young witch watching them over the next few days as their house was packed away.

Hermione moved away from her room and walked throughout the house, it wasn't really being sold, it was being kept in holding by Dumbledore, who knows how he managed it but he attained permission for the whole affair. She walked past her parent's bedroom, the sound of jazz music washing over her with the memory of when she was little and she would find her parents slow dancing together and then they'd pull her into the room and swing her around in the air. She pulled away from the memories and ran downstairs, she stopped short outside the kitchen, the ghostly smell of pancakes and coffee wafting out.

Silently a tear dropped down her cheek and landed on the polished wooden floors before she ran out of the house and into Professor McGonagall's waiting arms, a couple of minutes later, the older witch asked if she was ready to go, nodding blindly she held onto the witch as they turned on the spot and landed on the ground outside of the Burrow. Professor McGonagall handed the distraught young woman into the capable hands of Molly Weasley before she begged off an invitation inside and apparated to the outskirts of Hogwarts. Thought the place was unplotable, members of staff could apparate to just outside the grounds, however most people would have to go the village of Hogsmead first, but no one truly knew what direction Hogwarts lay in from there, which was exactly how the founder's wanted it. Slowly she walked up to her rooms and poured herself a cup of tea. In her own mind, Professor McGonagall wondered about the 'again' that Mr. Granger had let slip.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

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Chapter 3

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Draco rubbed his tired eyes when the words on the pages began to blur, he and the two house-elves were reading through the growing piles of books, looking for a way to remove the imperious charm; either one had to be able to resist it before it took hold, or the caster had to remove it or die. Groaning to himself he sat back in his chair.

"Master, I think I may have found something." Eric stated excitedly, "There's a potion that if brewed correctly can give the one who is imperioused the chance to fight back."

Sitting up, Draco leaned into listen more intently. "How does it do that?"

"It's not very clear, only this book does not include the directions, it gives hazy allusions to the name though; Libertas."

"Freedom." Draco muttered under his breath, a bloody typical name, "Why is it not used more?" He wondered half to himself.

"Because it is very tricky to make, I fear we may not have time."

When there was a thud on the door, "Draco, dear, it's your mother, can I come in?"

Draco stood his pale complexion draining even more, "Hide the research and don't let her in the room and for God's sake, stay out of sight." He hissed before straightening his clothes, it was only then that he noticed the sunlight streaming through the windows, they'd been up all night looking for a solution.

"Yes, mother?" He said opening the door, but staying out of her reach.

"Good, you're alive." His father drawled from just down the hall, lazily waving his wand around.

"Father." He said with resolute patience.

"Draco, my dear boy, you will do as I ask or I'm afraid your mother will take the punishment, which is a shame really, but mark my words boy, I will."

"What do you want?" Draco asked, staring at his mother - no, her body; her spirit and life were trapped within its shell.

"It's quite simple really; you will step outside of that protection barrier." He said waiting for his blonde son to do just that. "Good." He exclaimed and moved closer to Draco so that they were an arm's length away, "You will take the mark Draco and you will do as I ask, or I guarantee you everyone you care about, everyone you've ever cared about; even in passing and everyone who's had the misfortune to care about you will be obliterated."

His jaw clenched, the younger Malfoy carefully nodded his assent.

"Brilliant!" His father exclaimed, "But first." He waved his wand and Narcissa lifted hers and pointed it at Draco.

"No." He whispered as the pain spell hit him, the sweet sorrow was back tenfold along with the excruciating pain. A single tear leaked from the corner of his eye as he was tossed back and forth by his mother - no, his father. He breathed into the burning pain now running through him, stopping the tears in their tracks, if he cried or yelled it would only increase his father's vigour. After what felt like hours, his father nodded to himself and started to heal his son, it would do no good for the idiotic boy to show any weakness in front of the Dark Lord. "Tonight the initiation ritual will take place, but before that, you are to carry out some errands for me." His father said before leaving a broken man behind him and letting his 'wife' have the last say before moving her away, "Draco you are to make sure the vanishing cabinet at Borgin and Burke's is working and that we own it. I suppose you can pick your school supplies for the next year as well, you cowardly boy."

"Master!" The house-elves exclaimed running over to him when his parents had left and helping him sit up. Groaning Draco put his head in his hands, how long he sat like that, he didn't know. Wearily he got to his feet, his head swimming with the image of his mother. He routinely checked his appearance in a mirror on the hallway wall; his face was gaunt, his eyes had deep rings under them, in all honesty he looked terrible. Without giving it a moment's thought he muttered a glamour under his breath; there that's more like it. His pale skin slowly gained colour and the black circles below his eyes faded, he looked better than he had in years, not that the general public would know that. He frowned slightly, there was only so much glamours could do and they got less affective over time.

"I'd best be going." He said putting the haunting thoughts of the encounter from his mind he moved down the hallway to the floo room, the only place in the mansion people could floo to, aside from when his father used the fire in his study for business.

Draco walked through the green flames into Borgin and Burke's, looking around he noted the dusty collection of items scattered hap-hazardously around the shop.

"Master Malfoy!" A reedy voice called out from behind a stack of books as a small, fairly portly man came running and bowing slightly before the pureblooded Malfoy.

"Mr. Burke." Draco drawled, falling back onto a well practised air of indifference, "Do you still have the vanishing cabinet in stock; I believe you were informed of the one I was looking for."

"Yes, yes, of course. It's this way, if you'll follow me." The smaller man said leading the younger wizard further into the store, past slightly swaying towers of trinkets and well protected cages full of more expensive items. They came out of the maze at the very back of the shop, where a darkly ornate cabinet sat, with two bookcases standing guard on either side, "Here it is, sir."

Nodding his assent Draco checked over the merchandise with his experienced eyes, "Does it work?"

"Of course!" The older wizard stated, "I provide a demonstration if you wish."

"Do so." Draco said biting off the 'please' that nearly slipped out. 'Malfoys never say 'please' or 'thank you'; we are above such constraints unless we wish to seriously deliver a compliment or insult', his father's voice stated ringing through his head.

Burke nodded and withdrew a green apple from his wizard robe sleeve, placing it in the cabinet he then closed the doors and muttered a spell, and then opening the doors with far too many grand gestures the apple was gone.

Close to rolling his eyes, Draco closed them for a moment before inquiring, "Can you make it reappear?"

"Yes, sir." Burke said, a bit put out that the younger Malfoy wasn't taken in by his theatrics and made the apple re-appear.

"What about something living?" Draco asked, getting slightly exasperated, this was starting to take too long, brushing some soot off his sleeve he looked up to find the older wizard answering his question.

"Yes, that would work as well." He said before summoning a grey squirrel and demonstrating with that as well.

"Good. Have it billed to the Mallory accounts and keep it here for a while, I have quite decided where I want it." Draco said, putting a slight emphasis on the different name, it was an account only he could access and wasn't necessarily tied to the Malfoy name.

"But of course, is there anything else you need, sir?"

"Not at the moment." Draco replied before nodding goodbye and leaving back through the maze and out the front entrance.

Taking a deep breath as he stepped out onto Knockturn Alley and glancing around he noted the repugnant alley-dwellers; those who lived, worked or just spent an exorbitant amount of time here. Arranging his features into the perfect mask of a sneer, he walked down the street to the partially concealed entrance onto the brightly lit and bustling Diagon Alley, what he was met with was vastly different sight. The usual cheerfulness was gone, replaced with groups of haggard and weary looking witches and wizards rushing about getting things for their children or themselves. There was no one on their own and there were no casual shoppers, or rather, there were so few that most of them felt the desire to go home straight away at the sight before them, Draco included. The one place that was different was a corner shop wildly advertising about U-NO-POO, it was the Weasley's twins new joke shop, the only place that seemed to be doing well, it seemed that people needed cheering up in times of darkness.

Straightening his shoulders he started walking down the street going in and out of stores and ordering what was needed, he got some new robes from Madam Malkins, some more potions ingredients and other bits and bobs like parchment and ink, he had all of his purchases to be delivered by owl. He left getting his new text books last, giving him time to look around Flourish and Blots for a bit. He quickly found the books for his 6th year and got them ordered and sent for home. He then strolled through the store looking at certain section. In his mind wondering how on earth he was to look for what he wanted without it being obvious. He sighed under his breath and headed over to the potions room, it was literally a medium sized room full of potions books, there was a room for most disciplines and then the main room had the more popular books or new in ones and so on. Draco slowly lost himself in looking through the different books, careful to keep his looks as that of a curious observer even when he found references to the potion he was looking for.

'The Libertas potion is very tricky to make, if brewed incorrectly then it can result in either death or can lead to the imperioused person's own thoughts being taken over by the ones who holds the imperious curse. This happens slowly or quickly depending upon the power of the spell and the likelihood of these thoughts occurring in the person being controlled. Eventually there will be no need for the imperious charm. Be warned that this can happen after the imperious curse has been broken, however in one or two cases people have still recovered from this, though they were never the same. In the event that this should happen, then a memory charm can sometime help alleviate this or in other cases it can hurry the pace of transformation. All in all, in my research, I have found the Libertas potion lacking in most respects, it is a foolhardy method and only should be used as a desperate solution. Hence, I have not included the potion -.'

Draco snapped the book shut in frustration, he had been so close. Schooling his frown he started to leave the room when he bumped into someone, turning to see who he'd hit, he was faced with a young girl with brown bloodshot eyes and wild bird-nest hair; Hermione Granger.

"Watch where you're going mudblood." He hissed before leaving.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

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Hermione woke to a different ceiling, frowning slightly she remembered where she was and why, blinking back tears she looked around, she always had been an early riser, all of her family was, she looked over at the other bed in the room, Ginerva Weasley was still sound asleep. Rolling over Hermione checked the time 6am, no wonder there was no one awake, just then she heard a crash downstairs. Ginny grumbled to herself and then rolled over to face away from the door.

Hermione lifted the covers off, feeling them cool down as she stepped out of bed, they were charmed to warm up and cool down when needed. She grabbed her things and rushed into the bathroom down the hall. Jumping in the shower she let the warm water wash away the soreness from her tired body. She lost herself in the soothing water before climbing out and getting dressed, once she was ready she picked up her wand from the bathroom sink and dried her hair. It frizzed out making her have to use another spell to tame it into a tumble of curls. She avoided looking in the mirror when she could; her brown hair was as wild as ever, but her skin was pale and her eyes bloodshot. Taking her things back to her room, she carefully placed them in her trunk and put on shoes, making sure she didn't wake her still sleeping roommate before she headed down the tumbling maze of staircases that made up the tower of the Burrow.

She found Molly Weasley in the kitchen conducting an orchestra of pots and pans with enviable efficieny; she was used to making large meals, Harry was expected to arrive today, Ron had been grinning madly aboout that last night, Ginny too.

"Oh, hello my dear you're up early!" Molly exclaimed after seeing Hermione walk into the kitchen.

"I've always been a morning person, you know that Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said looking around before asking, "Is there anything I can help with?

"Oh no, you just sit yourself down and join Harry." Mrs. Weasley said, gesturing to the table.

Hermionelooked over at the table already heavily laden with crockery, she hadn't noticed him when she'd come down. Taking a deep breath, she sat down opposite Harry, "When'd you get there?"

"It must have been around 5am. Lord, I'm tired." He answered, stretching.

"Have you been up all night?"

"Yes, Dumbledor took me to a couple of places, before bringing me here."

"Doing what?"

"Well we recruited a new professor and then visited Grimald Place."

"A new professor?" Molly asked, speaking above the commotion happening in the kitchen.

"Yes, a professor Slughorn. Do you know him?"

"He taught Arthur and me. He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dubledore, I think."

Just then the screech of a parliament of owls could be heard, there were 4 of them, two went to Harry and Hermione where as the others went to Mrs. Weasley.

"It's our book lists for this year." Hermione exclaimed, for once having to feign interest in soemthing that usually excited her.

"Perfect timing for our trip into Diagon Alley today!" Mrs. Weaslet exclaimed before shouting up the stairs for her children to get out of bed. Hermione frowned slightly, it was uncanny sometimes how well Mrs. Weasley's planning went. Shaking her head, Hermione dismissed the thought, it was probably nothing. Looking up she saw Ron and Ginny stumbling downstairs they were yawning and bickering.

"Charlie went out ages ago mum, and Bill said he'd be down soon." Ron said through another massive yawn.

Shaking her head Molly waved the deliciously smelling food over to the table and everyone started digging in, aside from Hermione. She picked at her food and the moment she noticed someone watching she ate more, Molly kept glancing at her and Harry as if they both needed fattening up. Normally Hermione would have cracked a smile at the thought, but now. She smiled and pretended to be following the conversation as people ate, Mr. Weasley came home, saying that he'd been woken up early because of an incident with Mundungous Fletcher, he'd recently been happily promoted, he looked tired but insisted he was going with them to Diagon Alley.

"Hurry and get ready all of you, I want to leave at 9 at the latest! Yes, we will visit Fred and George, only after we've gotten everything else we need!" She said answering her children's questions before they'd even been uttered, "Now go get ready!"

Hermione stayed downstairs, helping Mrs. Weasley wash up, an hour or so later everyone was lined up and ready to get the floo to The Leadky Cauldron. Hermione always wondered why it was used so much, there were other pubs, inns and shops that acted as bridges from the muggle world to the magical one and even ones that didn't that you could floo to. She watched Bill and then Charlie go through, hoping that taking the floo was safe, there'd been a rash of rumours about floos stopping or changing direction mid journey, of underground networks disconnected from the ministry. It was probably all talk, trying to frighten and scare, but it had to come from somewhere and at least have a viable hint of proof to get the rumours started.

Steeling her breath she picked up the grey powder before enunciating Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley very clearly and being surrounded by heatless green flames that danced around her, she didn't realise she'd been holding her breath until she walked through them into the entry room. Once everyone was through they dusted themselves off and walked out towards the once cheerful shops, buying things they needed, Ginny wanted new robes, Harry wanted owl treats and Ron, well he just wanted to go to his brothers' joke shop.

"Can I go to Flourish and Blotts?" Hermione asked, "I'll me you at Fred and George's."

"Hermione, dear I don't really want to go off on your own, besides we need to go there anyways." Molly said.

"We could always go there now and I could stay with her whilst you go and get rest of things." Charlie suggested.

Hermione jumped not expecting him to say anything, she'd never talked much with Charlie, talking to Bill on the other hand was fascinating, curse breaking and working with goblins.

Aruthur nodded, "That sounds like a good idea, besides we need to get the books out of the way, that's the main reason we're here, after that we can do rest."

She mumbled her thanks to Charlie as they headed to the bookstore. It only took them a couple of minutes to locate all the books they needed, they had them displayed in sections according to year, both new and second hand books. After another couple of minutes the books were bought and the party was on their way, aside from Hermione and Charlie. "I'm going to go look at the Magical Creatures section." He announced smiling as he walked off, leaving Hermione to browse through the sections she wanted to.

Hermione slowly lost herself in the books, they were her haven but she'd read most of the books that has interested her and even some that didn't, she moved away from the Defense, Transfiguration and History sections and wandered over to the Potions room, only to be knocked into my someone tall, blonde and rude; Draco Malfoy. He pushed past her with a muttered insult. Barely batting an eyelid she continued into the room, noticing a book wedged out of place, _'Was that the book Malfoy was reading?'_, she wondered before heading over to check it out, it opened to a page about the Libertas potion, her eyes widening as she read it, turning the page it noted a book that the recipe could be found in. That would be a very useful potion to have at hand, but why on earth did Malfoy want it? Frowning to herself she re-read the title of the book mentioned; 'Unyeilding Potions and their Masters', the title certainly sounded pretentious enough, she didn't bother to look for the book though, she'd seen the potion in her collection, but never had the chance to brew it. She rushed outside of the bookstore and ducked into and alleyway, she reached into her bag to find the book she was looking for, it took a couple of minutes as she'd put a lot of her things in her bag, not wanting certain things to be left in her trunk. After wrestling with the bag a few minutes she withdrew the right book and flipped the pages over until she found the Libertas potion and frowned, it took more than one person to make it, which explained why she hadn't tried it over summer. Jotting down the ingredients on a spare bit of parchment she then put it back in her bag, groaning when she heard a crashing noise. Then without thinking she whispered to her wand, "Point Me, Draco Malfoy."

She found him staring into the dark window of Olivanders, the shops was usually dreary but this year it seemed to have taken on a whole new level, though most of the shops had.

"Malfoy." She said quietly.

Turning around sharply he hissed at her, "What do you want Mudblood?"

Holding up her hands she turned to move away, "I just thought you might be interested in something I had to say."

"Oh, yeah and what would that be?"

"The directions for the Libertas potion." She stated calmly.

Draco's whole body froze and how the next things that came out of his mouth was a hoarse whisper, "How do you know about that?"

"You didn't put the book back correctly." Hermione said, watching as Draco snorted to himself.

"That book didn't have anything interesting in it."

"Yes it did, but that aside it contained the name of another book which does have directions in it." Hermione said, neglecting to mention that that book wasn't where she'd found the instructions.

"Give it me." Draco hissed.

"First, you should know you'll need someone to make it with you if that's your intent."

Draco regarded her thinly, "Give. It. To. Me." He repeated himself.

"I will, if you tell me why you want it so badly."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

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Draco stared at the young witch in front of him, if not for his pureblood training he would have been staring open mouthed with all the grace of a Weasley. Narrowing his eyes at her, "Why do you care?"

"That's actually a good question," Hermione said, almost to herself before she bit her bottom lip slightly.

Draco was sorely tempted to move, run a hand through his hair, fidget; do something! But that would be taken as a sign of weakness, he could attack her and try and get the directions but that'd attract too much attention. Speaking of attention he looked up, away from the wild-haired witch and found shoppers staring at them and whispering.

"How do I know you actually have it?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

Draco sneered, unable to keep the expression off of his face. "Come with me." He said moving away from the shop window and heading down the street, away from Knockturn Alley and the stupid Weasley place.

"Why?" The witch asked carefully, wary of going anywhere with him.

"We're attracting too much attention out here, a mudblood and the son of a dark pureblood family, talking almost amicably in the street, now of all times?" He chuckled to himself, thinking of what his father would say.

Hermione didn't move, she just started after him, causing more and more people to stop and look at them, almost as if they expected them to start duelling then and there.

Turning around Draco walked back up to her. "What is it?"

"We can't really leave together, besides I have people waiting for me."

Draco nodded, she had a point. "Meet me in an hour at the Petal and Thorne,"

She nodded before whispering, "In Morgana's name I will bring the truth."

He hesitated before saying quietly, "In Merlin's name no harm will come to you." She smiled slightly before disappearing back down the street. Leaving behind a shocked pureblood wizard, he had responded from reflex, never expecting her to know a pureblood promise, let alone use one and with more dignity than some pureblood witches he'd seen use it.

Draco walked away, ignoring the disdainful looks the crowds shot him and as he vanished into the next alley and the one after that, until he was far away from the scene, only then did he rest against the rough brick wall of the alley, tilting his head back to look up at the heavens, images flashed before him, none of which he wanted to see. He pushed himself away to find his Aunt sitting on a wall next to him, looking down at him.

"Ahhh! Little Draco!" She called, "I was hoping to see you before tonight!" Grinning madly she jumped down and landed in front of him, her wand dancing in front of him. "I heard a wittle rumour that you were talking to a mudblood earlier."

"Hardly." He said brushing the comment off, he met her eyes. He'd been practising Occlumensy since he was a young child, after - after a certain incident with his father, his mother had taken him to his Godfather Professor Snape and begged him to teach him. Snape had been a natural, but as most people are he was better at one aspect that the other, whilst a brilliant teacher and much more powerful than his father. Unfortunately, he wasn't as powerful as Belatrix as Draco had discovered in his fourth year when trying to hide the ferret incident from her. She'd come extremely close to the section of his mind he'd roped off, the part of his brain with all the different things he thought or tried not to think, if that wall ever fell... After that he'd practised on himself, getting stronger and stronger, he could withstand her easily now, but she didn't know that. Draco shivered inwardly directing his attention back to Belatrix's attack, she saw him buying things and wandering around Diagon Alley, but there was no hint of his meeting the Granger girl. Nodding to herself she smiled and turned to walk away but not without flinging a curse at him, gritting his teeth he felt the blood in his body begin to prickle with ice and fire.

"If you're lying to me, I will do more than this to that girl and to you." She whispered in his ear, laughing as she walked away and Draco fell over, every movement sending even more agony wracking through his worn body, "I'm so looking forward to tonight, Dracykins!" She called before apparating, and ending the pain.

Draco closed his eyes again; whishing not for the first time that he didn't have to deal with this, sitting up he re-inforced his mental barriers and healed himself. Sitting in that alley the only thing that kept him going was the thought of a cure. Groaning he got to his feet walked towards the end of the alley, looking down at his reflection in a puddle, he frowned and called up a glamour altering his features and hair colour, it wouldn't do for him to be recognized now. He walked over to the Petal and Thorne and asked for one of the private booths, they had charms surrounding them making it so that people couldn't eavesdrop on the occupants or record meetings without consent. Settling into the booth he looked around, noting who was here and where they were. He hoped Granger would be smart enough to come, though at the same time, he didn't expect her to recognize him.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

Hermione flushed when she saw Charlie standing outside Flourish and Blotts, he was red face a frightening change from the deathly pale he'd been a moment before when he had been searching for her. "I'm sorry!" Hermione said, "I stepped outside for a moment or two, I told you I was leaving." She said, hoping he'd believe the white lie.

Charlie frowned, "Was I reading?"

Hermione nodded, not trusting whether or not her voice would give her away.

"I get lost in books, I loved to read, it's what got me interested in magical creatures and then to actually see them!"

Hermione smiled, "I know the feeling."

Charlie grinned back at her, for all of a couple of seconds before he remembered he was meant to be mad at her. "Come on; let's head over to the twins."

Hermione nodded, falling into step with the older wizard.

"Where'd you go off to?" He asked as they walked along.

"I just walked around a bit, remembering things."

"Good things I hope!

Again, not trusting her voice she nodded, as they approached the garishly large building advertising about U-NO-POO, they arrived just in time to hear Molly exclaim about them being murdered in their beds.

"Hermione!" Ron called as they headed inside, "Did you get enough books?"

Hermione chuckled as Harry intervened, "She never does, you know that!"

Linking her arms with them they stepped into the lively store, people were walking on walls, talking in animal voices, puking, disappearing; it was a lot to take in. Time passed quickly as she looked at joke sweets with Ron, love potions with Ginny and a host of other things.

"I remember when you used to confiscate all those things off of us!" Fred called out cheerfully.

"Only because you were trying them out on the first years,"

"They offered their services!" George exclaimed appearing on Hermione's other side.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione moved to look at something else. Not noticing the twins nodding to teach other over her head, then without warning she was picked up by one of them and taken into the back room, "What on Earth is going on?!" She yelled as they put her down in the middle of what must be the store room.

"We wanted to thank you."

"And we wanted your opinion on something."

Raising her eyebrow she looked at the older wizards, they use to ask her to help check some their work, make sure the spells works and things like that before, she'd agreed on the conditions that she not reveal anything and they not play any of the nastier pranks on her and stop using unsuspecting first years in them. Out of most people at Hogwarts, an especially out of the Griffindor students, she was the only one who hadn't really been pranked, they'd taken their word as far as they could. Which was one thing she admired about them, not just their ability to invent spells and jokes, but once they gave their word they kept it. "What is it then?" She asked, morbidly curious.

"Well, you see."

"We paid Harry back for the start up money." Fred continued.

"We figured we needed to do something for you too."

"And, well."

"We know you lost your cat a couple of years ago."

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, sparing a thought for the cat that died from eating too much, un-heroic but very much the Crookshanks way to go.

"So, we thought you might like this." The twins moved aside, revealing a medium sized white box on the floor. Ever so weary Hermione moved forward and slowly opened the box, curled up inside was an ocelot cub; they were creatures of magic, muggles never noticed the magical qualities of them or other animals, such as owls. Though, sadly the magic side of ocelots was diminishing, they were fiercely loyal to the partner they chose, if they did. Not much was known about the bond as no one ever spoke about it.

"I can't accept this, it's too much!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Nonsense, it didn't cost us a knut!"

"It was a gift to us, but we're not suitable partners apparently."

"Mum wouldn't let us give it to Ginny or Ron and Charlie would go mental with it and probably annoy it to death." George said trailing off.

"Harry doesn't want it either. We've asked around, if you don't take it we don't know what to do!"

"She." A voice said, ringing through the room.

"What was that then?" Hermione asked.

"I said, no one -."

"No not that." Hermione said interrupting them; she looked down at the ocelot.

The cat looked up at Hermione and yawned, a tentative voice reached out to her mind, "Can you hear me?"

"You speak?" Hermione exclaimed out loud.

"Of course, but only to some people, I tried talking to those two over their but they can't hear me. Then they paraded people in front of me, it was tiresome." She sniffed, "It's very boring you know, not being able to speak to anyone." Getting up the cub faced Hermione and sniffed her, "You smell of kindness and sadness, of a rawness mixed in with wholeness."

Hermione blinked not sure what to say to that, "Erm, thanks?"

"You can speak to me in your head you know. It would be less embarrassing." The cat informed her, starting to clean itself.

"What - ." Hermione cut herself off and tried projecting her thoughts at the cat, "How is this possible?"

"Do you not know you own gifts?" The cat asked despairingly.

"What do you mean? I can't talk to animals, beside the main tongue in parsletounge."

"You're talking to me."

Shaking her head in disbelief, the questions could come later, Hermione collected herself, "What's your name?"

"You could not pronounce it, what is something that would suit me?" The cat asked, moving into Hermione's arms, she started purring as she was stroked.

Hermione deliberated, "What would you like to be called?"

"Something fierce and true."

"Spirited," Hermione thought to herself, "Ferox?"

"I like that word."

"It's settled then." Hermione smiled.

"You speak Latin?" Ferox asked, "Could you teach me?"

"Does that mean you'd stay with me?"

"I think I might." Ferox whispered and shimmered, disappearing before Hermione's eyes, "I'm still here, I am just hovering in the air around you, it gets tiring sometimes maintaining a physical form. I'm attached to you so I'll move around where you go, unless I'm whole or you send me somewhere." Ferox informed her.

Hermione turned around to find Fred and George staring at her like she'd grown a second head, which Hermione supposed would be probably be on par with what had just happened.

"Well that solved that problem." Fred whispered.

Smiling Hermione launched herself at them and held the in a hug, smiling they returned it and dragged her back into the store, Ferox chatting away to her in the back of her mind. Realising the time Hermione slowly diverted attention from herself again and slipped out, not noticing the ripple in the air of someone in an invisibility cloak following her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

Draco watched the door carefully, keeping a wary eye out for anyone paying him too much attention. Looking down at his watch, it was past the time she was meant to be here, grumbling to himself he decided to wait a couple more minutes before leaving. He looked around the inn, it wasn't as large as the Leaky Cauldron but was more privately laid out, with private booths along two of the walls and a roaring fire in the centre, which was surrounded by couches and tables. There were two entrances on one wall with a floo fire in between them and on the wall opposite the entrance was two curving staircases wrapped around the check in desk and bar. The chime of the bell above the door then rang, showing a young brown hair witch, looking around the room nervously. Wordlessly Draco sent the piece of paper he'd charmed over to her telling him where he was. A faint smile curled around the witches mouth as she walked over and sat down opposite him, ordering a drink from the waitress who'd noticed her come in.

"A disguise." She commented after the waitress had left.

"Yes, it felt prudent to use one." Glamours were second nature to him now, anyways.

Hermione nodded, as if she completely understood, "What happened in our third year?"

Malfoy blinked, of course, she'd want proof it was him, "You punched me." He said blankly, seeing no need to elaborate.

Hermione smiled before cutting to the chase. "So why do you want this potion?"

Malfoy grumbled to himself, bloody Gryffindors and their directness. "Someone I know is under enchantment and I wish to remedy that." He said evasively.

Hermione leaned forward, "Who? It must be someone special for you to go to these lengths."

Draco shifted uncomfortably; he couldn't reveal it to her.

Sitting back in her booth she regarded him, they sat there in silence for some time before she nodded almost to herself and put a piece of paper in front of him. Looking down at it, it showed the directions, it'd take a week or two to brew and it was tricky, some of the ingredients are very hard to come by, fairy wings, boomerang skin, the list went on. "How do I know that this is correct?"

Smiling Hermione took a small black book out of her pocket, "This is the book I found it in."

Draco held out his hand.

"Not so fast, Malfoy. I'll give it to you."

"If?" He said waiting for an answer.

"You let me help you brew it."

Draco's eyes widened, why would she want to be part of that. "Why shouldn't I just take this list and go?"

"Because the potion requires two people to make it and the last ingredient is not on that list."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, that was almost very Slytherin of her.

"Besides, given how you obviously don't want anyone to know about this potion, you can't really ask anyone for help. I already know about this already."

"If we did, we would need to finish the potion before we go to Hogwarts in two weeks time."

"That would make sense, where would we meet?"

"I have a place in mind." He paused and stared at the young witch, "Why do you want to help?"

"I have my reasons." She stated primly, not giving anything away.

"You know sometimes, you are very Slytherin."

"Yes, I do."

Draco started at her, not expecting her to agree. "I'll take you to where we'll meet." He said standing and leading her outside where he took her on a side-along apparation to his haven.


	8. Update

Sorry, if I got your hopes up but, this is just an update on what's happening.

I've figured out where I'm heading with this. However, I need to explain some things first and I'm going to do that in a separate fic; which will be shorter - a couple of chapters (hopefully, though I could easily make it longer if I wanted and if you guys do). Then I'm going to start writing some more of this.

I'm toying with names for the series, something to do with 'Appearances' (which is the working title at the moment), if you have any idea let me know. - I might even make a poll.

But, because I'm lovely I'll give you a hint as what's to come; Pureblood!Hermione. Done in a way I've not seen, which doesn't mean it hasn't been done before. Every fic I've read that utilises this, never really focuses on her reaction, she usually seems to happy/OOC when she hears the news or doesn't react how I see her doing so. Tough mind you my headcannon, if you will, could be vastly OOC and I not realise this as I'm too close to it. I'm going to stop rambling, so head on over to ..'Life's Illusions'.. for the first chapters or so.

www . fanfiction s/9028746/1/Life-s-Illusions


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